


A Pretty Mind, A Pretty Heart, And A Pretty Soul (and I have none)

by Wally_Birb



Series: Smoak'd [9]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Black Canary (Comics), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), DCU, DCU (Comics), Green Arrow (Comics), Green Arrow - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Relationship, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bisexual Female Character, Can be read as a stand alone, F/F, Family Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, From 2x13 to 2x20, Sara and Felicity get together instead of Sara and Oliver, Team as Family, can be read as pre-A Lot Of Pretty People In This Town, follows season 2, in the past in Pretty People, no happy ending, pre-olicity, written as the relationship Sara and Felicity had
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-17 09:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10591158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wally_Birb/pseuds/Wally_Birb
Summary: When Sara came to Starling, a ray of sunshine caught her eye. She couldn't look directly at her, but the light made her feel warm inside, happy and comforted. She wanted to keep it as close to her as she could. She wanted to love it.When Sara left Starling it was to protect that ray of sunshine, because it was all too easy to pull her down to her level. It would be all too easy to corrupt that beauty. She'd fall on that sword if it meant letting Felicity free to live the life she deserved.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Alrighty so one of y'all realized that Smoaking Canary happened in the past in my Dick/Felicity fic, so I stayed up all night rewatching season 2b of Arrow to write this to show you just how it worked. There's some dialogue lifted from the show to tie in the canon, but this is basically how that relationship happened.
> 
> WARNING: This doesn't end happily, but if you wanna pop over to my other fic for a happier ending, I'll put these two in their own mini-series to show that they're in the same universe

It was a long ass day. Felicity tried to pride herself on her compassion but the shit they went through today. Thea’s father, having to stand up against Moira mother fucking Queen, dealing with pouty puppy Oliver, and saving Sara from an actual _League of Assassins_. Still, Felicity waited around later than she usually did. She encouraged Oliver to stay at Digg’s this weekend, and she waited for the phone call Sara had promised her after the family reunion.

No phone call, but it didn’t take long for Sara to get back to the foundry. Felicity looked up at the sound of footfalls on the steps. Sara paused when she saw Felicity at her computer and slowed her hurried pace. Felicity took in her new friend ~~and new crush, shut up, it was fine~~ and offered what she hoped was an understanding smile. “You wanna talk about it?”

“No, I just don’t...want to be home.” Sara answered.

Felicity hummed, shutting down her computer. “Why don’t you come home with me?” Sara raised her eyebrows, the corner of her mouth quirking upwards. “Not like that! I just mean that if you don’t want to be alone and maybe you want to be around someone who won’t, you know, expect anything from you, or rather I mean that I don’t have a previous idea of who you are, and I feel like we can be friends, you know and--” Felicity sighed and stopped herself-- “You’re welcome to crash on my couch. Anytime you want.”

By the end of Felicity’s babble, Sara couldn’t stop the amused smile blooming on her face. “You’re cute.”

“You keep saying that,” Felicity pursed her lips together. Felicity wasn’t a stranger to being called cute, but cute always felt really diminutive. She didn’t think that Sara meant it that kind of way, but it was hard to shake that feeling. “So, do you want to stay the night?”

Sara tilted her head to side in thought. “You got booze?”

“I’ve got three bottles of red wine and two cartons of mint chocolate chip ice cream that I was planning on breaking into, but I’d be willing to share.”

“Seems like I’m not the only one who’d like some company, huh?” Sara’s expression shifted from amusement to concern. “Come on, we’re taking my bike.”

Felicity followed Sara after grabbing her purse. “You know if you give me a ride now you’ll have to take me to work in the morning?”

Sara nodded. “I’m gonna be coming here to interview with Thea for a bartending job in the morning so I’ll just drop you off on my way.”

“Sounds good.”

The ride to Felicity’s apartment was quick and...very breezy up Felicity’s skirt, but super fun. “God, I love riding these,” Felicity mused dreamily.

“Does Ollie take you out for some rides?” Sara asked, helping Felicity take off her helmet. 

“No, when I was younger, I had a bit of a...phase.” Felicity answered carefully. “I might’ve...gotten a bike and rode around Vegas every few weeks.”

Sara grinned in delight. “I’m sorry, are you admitting to stealing a bike and taking it on a joy ride.”

“No comment.” Felicity blushed slightly and led Sara to her apartment. She didn’t even say anything when Sara did a quick walkthrough in her apartment. Then again, Sara figured that Felicity might’ve been used to vigilante paranoia by now. Sara smirked at Felicity when she caught up to her in the kitchen popping open a bottle of wine.

“So, do you have any pictures of this phase of yours?” Sara asked, leaning against Felicity’s counter. Felicity blushed again and motioned for Sara to grab some glasses.

“You want bowls or do you mind just going to town on the carton?” She ignored the question.

Sara grinned. “Bowls are for cowards. So you totally have a picture of you with that bike, don’t you?”

Felicity grabbed the mint chocolate chip ice cream and started towards the living room. “If you grab the glasses and wine, I’ll think about looking.”

“But there definitely is one in existence?” Sara chuckled and obeyed the nerd. 

“Do you want to borrow some pajamas? I figure I should change before getting comfortable. I tend to fall asleep without getting up.” Felicity noted. “If I do, just kick me until I wake up or I’ll get all koala-y.”

“Koala-y?”

“Hugging and not letting go.” Felicity shrugged. “You want pajamas?”

Sara smiled that gentle smile that made Felicity’s stomach flip before nodding and watching Felicity walk back to her bedroom. Sara poured the wine and opened the carton to start in on the ice cream. Felicity reappeared, hair in a loose braid, wearing a t-shirt with a cartoon alien on it, yoga pants, and fuzzy socks. She tossed Sara a pair of pajama bottoms that Sara would bet were bought in a matching set with the shirt she was wearing and a loose white t-shirt.

“It’s not a sexy corset, but it’s comfortable and clean. You can change in the bathroom. I also have some ponytail holders and my brush out in the bathroom if you want.” 

“Aw, you think I’m sexy,” Sara put her spoon in the carton and bumped her shoulder against Felicity’s on her way to the bathroom. 

Felicity scoffed. “Duh, I have eyes. I’ll start looking for a movie to watch, alright? Something- something with a happy ending.”

“Sounds good. Are you- are you okay?” Sara asked hesitantly, tapping the door frame without thinking about it.

Felicity shrugged and forced a smile. “Why wouldn’t I be? You’re the one who’s been through hell today.”

“It’s not a competition, Felicity.” Sara responded. “I’ll change, then we- we can talk, aright?”

“I’ll tell you about how I ruined my friend’s life, and you can tell me about how your ex-girlfriend tried to kill you.”

Sara smiled sadly. “I’ll tell you about how my sister threw a glass of wine at me.”

Felicity hummed and nodded. “If you want to, I’ll listen.”

“I know.” Sara closed the bathroom door and leaned against it before changing quickly. She opted to leave her hair down, but still looked around Felicity’s small bathroom in interest. Going through the cabinet revealed OTC melatonin tablets, prescribed depression medicine, and a few bottles of vitamin D and iron supplements as well as St. John’s wort. 

She also cursed herself a little bit for going into information gathering mode. She wanted to trust Felicity. Felicity had given her no reason not to. It was just that assassin’s paranoia. It kept her alive, but she figured it also might make it hard to be her friend.

“What do you want me to do with my clothes?” Sara asked, peaking her head outside of the bathroom. Felicity was kneeling in front of her TV, messing with the wires to some kind of box.

“Just toss them in the hamper. I’ll put them in with my next load of clothes tomorrow, if you want.” Felicity answered distractedly.

Sara followed her directions and reappeared out in the living room to watch Felicity finish fiddling with the wires. “So, what are we watching?”

“Mean Girls good with you?” She asked over her shoulder.

“Sounds good. Take a shot everytime someone says ‘shut up’.” Sara smirked a little at Felicity’s resulting huff of a laugh. Remote in hand, Felicity sat on the couch with Sara. “Alright, now which of your friends got a ruined life courtesy of you.”

Felicity started the movie and sat back, grabbing the glass of wine when Sara handed it to her (and just drinking it like a known assassin wasn’t giving it to her). “Oliver.”

“I don’t think anything you could say would ruin Oliver’s life except for maybe ‘I don’t love you’.”

“Ha.” Felicity shot Sara an unimpressed look and scooted closer so the they could keep the ice cream between them more easily. “Grab that blanket, will you?”

“Which one?”

“Both, one for you, one for me.” She instructed.

Sara complied and felt her heart grow three sizes at the knowledge that Felicity cared about Sara being comfortable and warm. “So what happened?”

“I had to tell him something that wasn’t my place to tell him.” Felicity mumbled, digging into the ice cream.

“Felicity?”

Felicity sighed and her expressed turned pleading. “I don’t know who he wants to know, alright? I can’t just tell you, because it really isn’t my place. But, Moira wasn’t going to tell Oliver--even after I talked to her--and I can’t lie for shit. It wasn’t my place, but I couldn’t live without telling him so I was selfish, alright?”

Sara melted a little bit, both at the knowledge that Felicity really was sharing this with her and that Felicity really must’ve felt that her unwavering belief in the truth was selfish. “It’s always better to know, Smoak. Oliver appreciates it. He might not ever tell you, but he does. You two are friends, and you know you’d want to know if he found out anything about your family.”

“There’s not much to find out.” Felicity shrugged.

“You never talk about them.” Sara realized, taking a bite of the ice cream. “I figured it might’ve just been at the foundry, but you also don’t have any pictures up here. Your apartment is really cute, don’t get me wrong, but I haven’t seen even a hint of memories, which implies that your memories aren’t all that great.”

Felicity curled her knees to her chest and finished off her glass of wine while steadfastly staring at the TV screen and not acknowledging Sara’s probing. For a minute, Sara let herself feel the rejection. But it didn’t last long before Felicity spoke again. “They aren’t.”

At Sara’s confused expression, Felicity continued. “My memories. You called it right. I have one picture, and it’s on my dresser in my room. There was this older couple who lived next door to us. When I was young, they were the parents I didn’t have. My dad...my mom worked a lot to raise me alone, but that didn’t leave a lot of time for her to raise me. Duke and James raised me. I remember Duke running an auto shop for a few years, but then he was able to retire. James gave Duke an older motorcycle for them to restore together, but Duke got sick. Cancer. He died a few years ago, but he’d been bedridden since before I went to college.”

“So you stole his bike?” Sara asked, tone edging on incredulous.

“James never wanted me on a motorcycle--he said it was too dangerous. Duke, though, he thought it was a tragedy. A perfectly fine bike holed up in that dingy little garage. He’d give me the keys when he saw that I was getting antsy dealing with my mom and school. He gave me a little bit of freedom.” 

Sara pressed her arm against Felicity’s, letting the touch ground the other woman as she remembered. “They sound great.”

“They were.”

“Do you still talk to James?” Sara asked, hoping that she wasn’t stepping on a landmine.

“No. I- I was an idiot in college. Got into some bad stuff, a bad relationship. I didn’t go to Duke’s funeral. James never called after that.”

“Why didn’t you go?”

Felicity shrugged. “Why didn’t you go back to your family?”

Sara blinked before realizing the point. “Because I was afraid they wouldn’t want me back.”

“Exactly.”

“I was right.”

“No,” Felicity shook her head. “Laurel’s just overwhelmed right now, and she’s not in a great place. Give her some time.”

“I gave her six years.”

“Some people take longer than others.” Felicity smiled wanly.

Sara took a deep breath and gave Felicity a measuring look. “I’ll give Laurel some time, but you should call James. I bet it’d be hard for anyone to be mad about hearing from you.”

“We’ll see about that,” Felicity rested her head against Sara’s shoulder and--oh. Okay.

Sara had thought that any butterflies in her stomach had been sliced into pieces by Oliver and Nyssa. Yet here she was, stomach doing more flips than an acrobat because a cute tiny blonde who smiles like the sun rested her head against Sara’s shoulder.

It was more than she deserved, she supposed. But she also figured that she wasn’t a good enough person to resist it until Felicity figured it out. So she wrapped her arm around the other blonde and turned her attention to the comfort around her. Sara felt herself falling in love with ice cream, wine, rom-coms, and fuzzy blankets.

Or maybe it was the person who was able to bring all of those things together.

*

Oliver’s confused expression when Sara complied with Felicity’s squeak to let her check out where Digg had accidentally made contact with her head would’ve been hilarious if not for the blood on Sara’s face.

“You’re bleeding, but it’s not deep. Digg probably pulled back as much as he could,” Felicity pushed Sara’s hair out of her face and earned a sweet smile in return.

“Good, I can’t take anymore scars.” Sara joked before turning to Digg.

Felicity watched the three badasses compare scars and felt...maybe just a pang of jealousy. She was standing right next to them, yet somehow as they had this conversation, she was invisible to them. She started her babble before she could stop herself, talking about her scar from her dental surgery and feeling increasingly stupid with every word until her brain finally let herself trail off.

“You’re still cute,” Sara grinned in delight at Felicity before looking over at Digg who was shaking his head and looking at the floor.

Ah, and there it was again. The diminutive feeling. The feeling that she was kept around for the amusement fact. Comic relief Felicity, that’s what they called her.

 _God, when did I start thinking like this?_ Felicity asked herself as she looked away, still embarrassed. 

“We better get going,” Oliver smiled, his previous confusion moved to the back burner in his mind. “You don’t want to be late to your own welcome home party.”

“You didn’t have to throw me a party, Ollie.” Sara borderline whined.

“Sara, when you come back from the dead, you get a party. It’s a Queen family tradition.” Digg and Felicity shared a flat look at the joke.

“I don’t know how well that’s going to work with the Lance family tradition of holding grudges forever,” Sara refuted.

“Hey, you promised to give her time. She’ll come around,” Felicity interjected, fixing Sara with a chastising look.

“Maybe,” Sara amended, throwing Felicity a ‘happy now’ look. Oliver looked between the two of them in confusion again. “I survived Lian Yu and Nanda Parbat. I guess I can handle a cocktail party.” 

Felicity snorted. “Good luck with that.”

“Oh no, you’re going to be there, too.” Sara pointed at the other blonde seriously.

“I think the fuck not.” Felicity answered, voice high from being caught off guard.

“Please, Felicity? I thought you said that we were friends,” Sara put some extra effort into a ‘sad but trying to cover it up’ pout--the expression that she’d realized was Felicity’s weakness.

Felicity opened her mouth to say no, but was caught off guard by Sara’s face. She looked away and blushed slightly. “Fine, I’ll be there.”

“Thanks, cutie.” Sara pulled Felicity into a hug.

It’d been like this since last week when Sara had stayed the night at Felicity’s apartment. Everyday was a practice in Felicity holding onto her self esteem so as to not feel useless and holding onto her self control so as to not fall completely head over heals with a reformed assassin. A very cute reformed assassin. With abs.

*

Felicity watched Sin hug Sara with a small smile on her lips, and allowed Thea to walk Sara into the party before saddling up beside her.

“So? On a scale of one to Lian Yu, how bad is this so far?” Felicity asked teasingly.

“I’m ready to scale the place and flee.” Sara shot back with an answering grin--and God, that dimple was going to kill Felicity one of these days. Felicity looped her arm through Sara’s and pulled her through the crowd, deftly working between reintroducing Sara to her old friends and distracting Sara from Laurel’s absence.

Of course when the alert on her phone went off, Sara saw the look on her face and they both moved through the room to grab Oliver.

“A vigilante’s work is never done,” Sara lamented playfully as they left.

“Homicide in the Glades, my heroes.” Felicity reported as they all packed into Digg’s van.

Oliver nodded. “Time to suit up, then.”

“How’d you know that we needed to go?” Felicity asked.

“Detective Lance just got the same call.” 

*

When Sara heard light punches as she came into the foundry, she had to physically stop herself from rushing to see Felicity in workout clothes. Instead, she started with some verbal pointers. 

“Plant your feet,” She advised from behind, seeing Felicity jump slightly and turn around to look at Sara head on. “Strong foundation--” Sara put her hand on Felicity’s hips to keep her standing while sliding her right foot back-- “equals stronger punch.” 

Felicity took a breath and punched the dummy. Sara kept her smile to herself and nodded. “Nice.” She stepped around the other blonde, happily relishing in the chance to finally be their for Felicity instead of the other way around. “If this is for self-defense, I’d recommend wing chun. It uses your opponent’s strength against against them, so it’s ideal for smaller people--” Sara demonstrated on the dummy, adding a little bit of sound effect herself-- “Like us.”

“You seem like you can take care of yourself just fine,” Felicity answered, the self doubt that she’d been burying resurfacing like a buoy. 

Sara looked at Felicity for a moment, taking in the forced smile and her tenseness. She was more than happy to help Felicity defend herself but not...like this. This time when she asked, there was no hesitation. “Are you okay?”

And then Oliver interrupted, asking for a progress report on the skeleton key.

“And what...are you wearing?” Oliver asked.

“I just thought I’d...” Felicity trailed off, feeling unsure and embarrassed again.

Sara saved her. “I was giving her some self defense pointers. Felicity?”

Felicity let out a relieved sigh and shot Sara a shaky smile. “I’m cross referencing Walczak’s known associates with decryption experts on the NSA watchlist, but it’s taking some time.”

“Which we don’t have,” Oliver planted his hands on the table. “Okay, the key is not just a code breaker. In the wrong hands, it’s a weapon.”

“Whoever killed Walczak, in addition to finding creepy uses for clock parts, is very good at covering his tracks,” Felicity replied, subdued by her lack of progress.

“Lucky for us,” Oliver turned back to Felicity. “Uncovering tracks is what you’re very good at.”

Felicity paused and looked back that computer. Her place on the team. Crystal clear. She was supposed to be the best at hacking, yet here she was. Beaten by a clock fetishist. “Right.”

Sara and Digg shared a look before Sara stared over at Felicity’s back, confused and worried for her friend. 

*

“What can I do?” Sara asked.

_What can’t you do?_

“Go to your dinner,” Felicity ordered, pulling more fried pieces of what used to be her system out to trash later, “Your family’s probably waiting for you.”

“Right, dinner at Laurel’s. This is more important,” Sara decided.

Felicity tried to keep the increasing frustration out of her tone, but she couldn’t. She figured it was better than the defeat that Digg was subjected to earlier. “You can’t do anything here, Sara.” She took a breath and looked over her shoulder at her crush object. She was making that same concerned face she’d had earlier and Felicity felt herself soften. “Your family’s important, too.”

“Yeah...I was...kind of hoping you’d come with me.” Sara tilted her head a little bit and gave Felicity her sad eyes.

“I’m--” Felicity sighed when she heard yet another spark. “I’m the only one who can do this here.”

“Hey.” Oliver grabbed Sara’s attention. “You should go.”

“Will you go with me?” Sara asked. Felicity shared a look with Digg before closing her eyes and burying her feelings for Sara a little more deeper.

“What?” Oliver asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

Sara shrugged slightly and looked away. “I know that it’ll send Laurel the wrong message, and I know that I’ve wanted us all to get together for a while now, but now that it’s actually here, I’m really nervous. I mean, last time I saw Laurel, it...didn’t go very well, and...it’d be helpful to not have to go alone.”

“I should probably stay here.” Oliver started. 

“What is it exactly you think you can do here to help?” Felicity asked, tone flat and defeated. Sara shot another concerned look at the blonde before looking over at Oliver as he shot Felicity an offended look that she met head on with an unaffected hum. Oliver held Felicity’s stare for a beat before blinking and accepting defeat. “Call if you need us.”

“Yep,” Digg answered over his shoulders as Sara and Oliver began to walk away. He waited until they were out of earshot to start trying to talk to his friend. “You know it’s not your fault, Felicity.”

“Really? Which one of the rest of you put up the security safeguards?” She asked, irritably tugging out a piece of circuitry. “Maybe if it had been one of you, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“Now, I know we haven’t talked about this, but it must be difficult for you seeing them together.”

“This isn’t about whether or not they’re together.” Felicity gave Digg a look, but some part of her had been waiting to talk about this. “This is about me. Okay, Sara can analyze blood. She can kick ass. She can do anything. Oliver can use connections and figure things out. He can kick ass. He can do anything. You have this amazing strategic army background. You can jump out of planes without blinking. You can kick ass. You can do anything.

“And the one thing I’m supposed to be good at,” Felicity turned back to the steaming pile of failure in front of her, illuminated by a small flashlight. “I’m failing at miserably. And why do you even need me now that I’m not the best at this?”

“Because you’re irreplaceable, Felicity.” Digg answered with having to stop to think. Felicity turned and leveled him with a glare meant to tell him to stop fucking with her, but he wasn’t. His face held at completely honest and open until she let out a breath and had to look away.

“I have a lot of work to do,” She spoke in a small voice, looking up at him to plead without words for him to leave her alone. Digg nodded and brought a hand up to squeeze her shoulder. She rested her cheek against him fingers until he pulled away and then she got back to work.

Always back to work.

*

“Wait,” Felicity circled the bank’s computer to stand next to Sara while staring down at her tablet. “Tockman overplayed his hand. The gas main’s in the city’s network, that’s where I live.”

“Am I supposed to understand that?” Sara asked, eyes wide in confusion.

Felicity looked up at her for a second before remembering that she had to translate, “Uh- in trying to blow us up, he gave me a way to track him down.”

“That I understood,” Sara smirked.

*

Running around the corner, the only thing Felicity saw was the barrel of a gun before she was tackling Sara on pure instinct. She couldn’t even remember what she yelled. Sara grit her teeth and looked back down at Felicity. Training on Nanda Parbat told her that Felicity’s wound was superficial--just a scratch. But then her heart went and begged her to stay with the blonde. Or, better yet, to tear Tockman apart.

“You don’t even know why I’m doing this!”

She held her hand out to Tockman as he advanced, letting him know that she wasn’t armed while she tried to figured out a way to get herself between Tockman and Felicity. The other blonde’s pained noises were enough to stoke the anger inside of her, but she kept that beast on lockdown.

“The money’s not for me! I’m doing this all for her!”

“Doesn’t make it right,” Sara started to stand in front of Felicity, her hands up in surrender. 

Tock shrugged and aimed his gun. “Tempus fugit.”

“Time flies,” Felicity translated and tapped her tablet. Inside of Tockman’s jacket, Sara watched in awe as whatever tech was in there electrocuted him at Felicity’s command.

“What the hell was that?” Sara asked.

“His cell phone.” Felicity answered. Sara spared Felicity a glance before moving towards the man. “I uploaded the same virus he used on my gear in the foundry.”

Sara kicked away his gun and checked for a pulse.

“I didn’t just kill him, did I?” Felicity asked, the guilt and horror of what she could’ve potentially done dawning one her. 

“Just knocked him out,” Sara assured her, running back to her fallen ally.

“We did it,” Felicity tried to smile, but the burn in her shoulder prevented her from feeling anything other than that pain.

Sara shook her head and corrected her, a small, proud smile on her face. “You did it.”

*

Sara smirked a little bit as Felicity slurred her words and denied the offer of a hospital once more. She stayed focused on the stitches which Felicity’s head lulled back and forth, but she still knew she needed to say something.

“I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t been so brave. Thank you,” Sara told Felicity, earning a turn of the nerd’s cute head to try to look at Sara as much as possible. Felicity seemed to digest the words as she coasted towards her side.

“It was nothing,” She whispered, having a harder time than ever keeping her deeper thoughts to herself. “I’ve always wanted to say I’ve taken a bullet for someone and now I can, so really I should be thanking you.”

“All done,” Sara chuckled and moved the button up shirt to cover Felicity up a little bit more. “Not bad, but you’re still gonna have a scar.”

“My own scar! Protecting you!” Felicity mused. “Yay!”

Sara rolled her eyes and moved forward to press a kiss to Felicity’s forehead. She shot Oliver a warning look as he moved forward, face painted with amusement. So what if she was staking her claim? The man had a year and a half without any competition and still never made a move. Now it was her turn. Oliver pursed his lips at her and waited until she walked away to start talking with Felicity.

“You alright?” He asked her in a low, gentle voice that was reserved for when he thought something was his fault. Felicity nodded, the satisfied look on her face still present. “Diggle had mentioned that you were feeling maybe...a little left out.”

“What?” Felicity’s face twisted in forced confusion and she gave Digg a dirty look. “No!” She looked up at Oliver and got a full dose of that ‘I care about you and want to help you’ face. “I was just...used to being your girl friend.” At Oliver’s raised eyebrows, she went back. “I mean, not your ‘girlfriend’ you friend that is a girl. I know it sounds like the same words, but they mean something different in my head.”

Oliver stepped forward and gently pressed his hand on her shoulder, smiling a bit when she drunkenly leaned into the hand and hummed. “Hey,” He whispered. She hummed questioningly back. “You will always be my friend, Felicity.”

“And you know,” Sara started as she came back from behind Felicity, startling her away from Oliver’s hand. Felicity grinned like a dork when she saw the other blonde and leaned practically her entire body against her. “You can always be my girlfriend.”

“Oliver go get dressed, Sara go to work,” Digg ordered in amusement when Felicity turned bright red, yet he noted the pleased look on her face.

*

“Hey,” Felicity greeted Sara the next day on her way into the foundry. Sara looked up at her in excitement practically shoved a martini glass in her hands.

“Try this.” Sara instructed her, looking down at Felicity--who had opted for flats for the first time since Sara had known her. Felicity hummed in surprise and accepted a sip of the drink.

“Mmm!” Felicity looked at Sara and smiled genuinely. “That’s great! So you got the job?”

“I did. Thea hired me. It’s...hard to find other work when you have a six year gap on your resume that can only be explained be international assassin.” Sara shrugged playfully. “How’s the shoulder?”

“Not bad at all,” Felicity lied through her teeth and put down the martini glass. “I’m taking some Tylenol for it, but Oliver insists on giving me the day off so I’m going to spend that time sifting through the wreckage and trying to pull my system together.”

Sara nodded and gently tangled their fingers together. “Hey, I need to thank you.”

“For what?” Felicity asked, genuinely confused.

“For saving my life.” Sara looked between Felicity’s eyes and shook her head. “Believe it or not, Felicity, not everybody’s first instinct is to take a bullet for a stranger.”

Felicity tensed a little bit, and a part of Sara’s heart broke as she watched the playful smile melt into something more sad and more forced. “Oh. Right. Stranger.”

“No, Felicity,” Sara closed her eyes and shook her head. “That didn’t come out right, okay? I didn’t mean that we’re strangers.”

Felicity stared at Sara like she was trying to figure out a puzzle. “Look, you don’t have to thank me for last night. I’m proud that my instinct is to help. And, despite whatever we think we are to each other, I’m proud that I got this saving _you_.”

“I don’t think that we’re strangers,” Sara tugged on Felicity’s hand. “But cards on the table? I don’t want to be your friend.”

And oh my god, ouch. Seeing Felicity force a mask to hide her disappointment was one thing, seeing that heartbreak so openly written on her features was as deadly as a knife. No wonder Felicity’s weakness was sad faces. This was hard for _Sara_ and she actually knew what she was trying to say.

“God, words are just--” Sara huffed and let go of Felicity’s hand to cup her face and press a kiss to her lips. She lingered just long enough for Felicity to get the message before retreating. “I don’t want to pressure you, and honest to god, I’m fine with whatever you want, but if the option is there, I don’t want to be _just_ friends with you.”

Felicity blinked for a beat, caught off guard by this sudden development. “I thought you were- I thought you were going after Oliver?”

“Don’t worry, Felicity, you’re definitely the cutest blonde I know.” Sara answered, a small smile drawing at her lips. “So does this mean that you’ll have dinner with me?”

“Yeah.” Felicity croaked before clearing her throat and nodding. “Like, date?”

Sara grinned. “Yes, like a date.”

“Good.” Felicity nodded to herself and took a deep breath. “I have to- my computers.”

Sara kept smiling like an idiot as she watched Felicity moved towards the door to the foundry before marching back over to Sara. “Forget something?”

“Yeah,” Felicity answered. She moved her hand against Sara’s cheek to the back of her head and leaned slightly upwards to press a far less chaste kiss to Sara’s lips. She felt Sara come to live underneath her, moving her lips against Felicity’s and grabbing handfuls of Felicity’s shirt to pull her closer. She crowded the other blonde against the bar and kissed her senseless until the sound a throat clearing startled Felicity away--backwards and around enough that her elbow would’ve sent a bottle of vodka to the ground had it not been for Sara’s bomb ass reflexes.

Oliver stared at the two of them, surprised and amused in different parts. Sara raised her eyebrows at him. “Can we help you?”

Felicity squeaked and buried her face in Sara’s shoulder, keeping her tomato red face out of the sight of the Queen. 

“I was going to ask Felicity about--” Oliver started before his phone rang. He looked down and frowned. “Nevermind, I- text from Thea, I have to go.”

“I hope everything’s alright?” Sara asked.

“I hope so, too,” Oliver responded as he practically ran out of the club, only to be stopped by the sight of Laurel. He looked between both Lance sisters before Laurel spoke up.

“You can go,” Laurel told him, glancing over at Sara as Felicity gently pushed her back so that they wouldn’t be in as promiscuous a position. Oliver’s mouth tightened as he and Felicity shared a look. “I’m not here to kill her or anything.”

Felicity snorted and Laurel sent her a look that meant that she was thankful for someone trying to break the ice as Oliver left. Felicity grabbed Sara’s hand and squeezed it before stepping away. “I’ll be down in the foundry if you need me, alright?”

Sara squeezed her hand back.

Laurel looked around Verdant, trying to think of some kind of small talk while an avalanche of apologies was being held back by the fear of smothering Sara in them. She started walking towards Sara, knowing that her hister had already reached out, and now it was her turn.

“I remember you used to bartend at that skeevy bar with the...peanut shells all over the floor.” Laurel started.

“Yeah, Oblivion.” Sara filled in the blanks and faced Laurel head on.

Laurel took a breath and tried to smile. “Right.” They both stared at each other for a beat. “I’m not here for a drink or anything.”

Sara nodded. “Then why are you here?”

“Because I realized that...that in a way, I went on that boat with you, too. And...I’ve been slowly drowning for all of these years. And after every heartbreak or setback or loss...I sank deeper into the dark water.” Laurel looked up at Sara, a part of her amazed that Sara was still listening to her sob story. “And so when I saw you...so beautiful, and so alive, I realized that I’m not those things. Not anymore.” She felt tears starting down her face, but she plowed through. “So please...please don’t hate me, Sara.” She sniffed and brushed her hand over her face. “Please.”

Sara didn’t need to think twice before she was crossing the distance between them and pulling her into a hug.

“I missed you,” Laurel whispered.

*

After her moment with Sin, Sara retreated back to the foundry where she knew Felicity and Digg were waiting. She ignored Diggle’s hello and spun Felicity around in her chair. Felicity looked up at her first in annoyance, then concern.

“Sara? Are you okay?”

“You were right about Laurel.” Sara told the other blonde without answering the question. “You pushed me back towards my family, now I’m pushing you towards yours.”

Felicity’s face morphed to cautious blankness as she stood, never ever intimidated when she should be, bless her heart. “That has nothing to do with this.”

“Felicity? What’s going on?” Diggle asked, looked between them cautiously.

“Call James, Felicity.” Sara told her. “It may take him some time to come around, but wouldn’t you rather have that relationship back? Instead of spending everyday regretting the choices that you’ve made?”

“ _Sara!_ I _don’t_ want to talk about this!” Felicity’s eyes flashed in anger as Roy came down the steps for his training. “Now, Roy needs someone to train him and I need Digg to give me a ride to go grab some food for everybody, so just _drop it_.”

Roy stared wide-eyed at the two blondes before looking at Digg. “What’s happening?”

“I have no idea, man, but maybe we should all just take a breath.”

Sara took Digg’s advice and took a deep breath, part of her acknowledging that maybe blindsiding Felicity wasn’t the best idea. She continued in a low tone so that only Felicity could how vulnerable she was behind the words. “You’ve helped keep my family safe and together for almost two years so far. How can you tell me that I shouldn’t try to push you towards yours?”

Felicity looked at the sad eyes, her one weakness, and felt herself wavering. “Sara, I told you about an old wound that still hurts. Please, _please_ don’t make me pick at it.”

“Family’s important, Felicity.” Sara answered. “And you know that I’d never make you face something you didn’t want to if there was a better option.”

“That’s not your call,” Felicity shut Sara down and turned on her heel to leave. “Digg, you wanna go on a Triple B run?”

Digg gave her a measuring stare before nodding and following after her.

“What was that about? I didn’t know Blondie’s face could look like that.”

“Like what?” Sara asked, feeling a bit like she’d been hit with the emotional equivalent of a bulldozer.

“Angry. Hurt.” Roy answered. “Like she couldn’t handle whatever you were saying but she knew she was wrong.”

Sara sighed and shook her head. “Grab a bow, Harper.”

*

“Hey, so, I was wandering,” Laurel started, sitting across from Sara at a coffee shop. “That girl you were with at Verdant, Ollie’s EA?”

“Felicity,” Sara smiled a little bit.

Laurel nodded. “I know you’re not with Oliver, but the way you two were standing together...am I crazy for thinking that you’re with her?”

“Not at all,” Sara shook her head. “But she hasn’t been talking to me lately.”

Laurel’s eyebrows furrowed together. “I’ve seen that face before. On my face in the mirror when boyfriends go into distant mode. What’s up?”

“I- I pushed her to talk about something she wasn’t ready to talk about.” Sara answered with a small shrug. “The night you found out that I was still alive, I spent the night on Felicity’s couch. We talked about our families. She never talks about hers, and that night I found out why. It’s painful for her. In a way, she’s running from it. So, after you came to talk to me--”

“You wanted her to be as happy as you were,” Laurel realized. “That’s...admirable.”

Sara shook her head and looked down at her coffee. “It was stupid. I just ambushed her. She’ll barely even look at me now. Which sucks because I could see myself...really falling for her.”

The corner of Laurel’s mouth quirked up into a smile, “Maybe she feels bad, too. You two might be the same kind of self-sacrificing morons who would take turns throwing themselves on the sword for each other. Maybe you should bite the bullet and talk to her.”

“I might, I’m just...scared that she’ll stop us before we even start.” Sara admitted.

Laurel chuckled. “Coward.”

“Rude,” Sara pointed at Laurel accusingly and took a sip of coffee.

*

“Hey, Felicity?” Oliver asked, but it seemed like Felicity didn’t hear him again. He sighed and raised his voice to repeat himself, a part of his heart dying a little at how violently she jumped in her chair. “What is going with you? Did you find out that Malcolm Merlyn is my father, too?”

Felicity gave Oliver a chastising look and shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

Oliver channeled his inner Felicity and gave her the same ‘I know you’re feeding me a line of bullshit’ face she’d given him during the majority of the beginning of their work together.

Sighing, Felicity sat up and leaned her arms on her desk. “You have more important things to worry about than me.”

“I can’t even begin to tell you how untrue that is.” Oliver answered in a fierce whisper. “We’re partners and friends, Felicity. I tell you when things are bothering me.”

Felicity pursed her lips together. “Sara and I are...involved.”

Oliver chuckled a little bit at how awkward she was. “Is that what this is about? Because I’m fine with that, Felicity. What you do--or who you do--is none of my business.”

“Very funny,” Felicity gave him a wry smile, noting the light mood he was trying to preserve around her even while it seemed everything around them was dark and dreary. Especially after she and Sara had had to shake him out of his tunnel vision barely two days ago. And, oh...he was probably trying to fill in for her with the jokes and innuendos. That was adorable. “That’s not it. I told Sara a little bit about how I grew up. My neighbors and how they raised me and how I did something and I’ve never had the courage to talk to him again. To reconnect.”

Oliver’s face reflected slight confusion at trying to follow her censored story and understanding of that fear. “I can’t think of anyone else other than Sara who could understand that. What happened?”

“Well, what happened is that I told Sara to tough it out and wait for Laurel to come around. She told me to do the same with James. Laurel came around and Sara told me that I should call James and I...lost it.” Felicity let out a self deprecating laugh. “I think even Roy was a little scared after I went off. And now I feel like I’ve lost Sara, too, because I’m such a coward.”

“Hey,” Oliver frowned, a defensive look on his face. “You’re not a coward.”

Felicity shook her head. “I can’t face what I’ve done, Oliver. I’ve been running away my entire life.”

“I can’t pretend to know what you’ve been through, Felicity--because you haven’t told us--but I do know that you are one of the bravest and most courageous people I know. You’re the kind of person who would take a bullet for someone else,” Oliver nodded towards her shoulder. “But I also know that you can paralyze yourself thinking too much. So, maybe you should get out of your head and rely on your instincts a little, huh?”

Felicity pressed her lips together and nodded. She looked up at Oliver and smiled at him. “You know, for someone who hates talking about their feelings, you’re great at forcing me into these talks. One day, you and I are having a wine and bitch session like real friends.”

Oliver let out a laugh and nodded. “I look forward to it. Now, call your girlfriend. I’ve had just about enough of the two of you moping in my foundry.”

“Your foundry? Thea owns the building, Digg rents the basement, and I paid for all of the equipment.” Felicity raised her eyebrows and got her phone out. She stood and gave Oliver a grateful, if smug, smile before walking towards the breakroom.

“Miss Smoak.” Isabel greeted her icily. “Personal call?”

“My girlfriend,” Felicity chimed, mainly to watch the way Isabel’s face twisted. Bitch.

“ _That’s a nice greeting_ ,” Sara’s voice came over the line. “ _You sure it’s for me?_ ”

“I’m sure that I’d like it to be.” Felicity answered, her voice shakier than she thought it would be. “Can you meet?”

“ _Yeah. I’ll bring you some lunch, we can talk._ ” Sara breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Alright. See you soon. No p--”

“ _No peanuts, I know._ ”

*

“I’m glad you called,” Sara told Felicity, her voice soft and low as they ate at Felicity’s desk. “I was going to come see you today.”

“Please don’t tell me that you’re breaking up with me.” Felicity’s eyes went wide. “Because I’m really sorry that I yelled at you, you were only trying to help, but I’m just really sensitive and bad at confrontation and you just came out of nowhere and you had been crying and I was afraid of what would happen and--”

“I’m not breaking up with you.” Sara moved forward and cupped Felicity’s cheeks. “Take a breath. I wanted to talk to you. Apologize for coming in as hot as I was.”

“What?” Felicity asked, confused.

“Hindsight being 20/20, there was definitely a better way to talk to you than running in, pinning you to your chair, and ordering you to do something in front of Digg.” Sara huffed out a little chuckle. 

Felicity cocked her head to the side in acknowledgement of her point. “You were right, though. I’ve been running away my entire life. From Vegas to Boston to Starling. Changing what I show people so they can’t know who I was before. But I want to stop doing that. I want to be able to stop running and I want to- I want put down some roots.”

“Cutie, you already have roots here.” Sara leaned forward and grabbed Felicity’s hand. “You have a team, you have a company, and you have me.”

“If we go down this road, Sara, I promise that I’ll stop putting up walls to keep you out, but this has to be serious, okay?” Felicity looked Sara in the eyes. “I don’t do flings or casual relationships. Once I’m in, I’m all in. I don’t want to get my hopes up for something that you’re not ready for, though.”

Sara nodded. “I’m in, too. But I’m being selfish. You’re a breath of fresh air and a ray of sunshine so bright I have to squint, and I- I barely have a soul left. I want to be with you. And I need you to know that because of who I am, that could get dangerous. Especially with Slade running around. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you, but there might be a day when I’m too late or--”

“We’ll cross that bridge if we get to it,” Felicity squeezed Sara’s hand. “Until then, try to remember what we told Oliver. You can’t save the world alone. And I’m here--our entire team is here--to help.”

Sara smiled and they both leaned forward to bridge the gap.

“Now, I think I promised you a picture.” Felicity practically whispered as they rested their foreheads together.

“Let’s go. I’m sure your boss will give you long lunch,” Sara giggled. Felicity shook her head and stood up. She poked her head inside of Oliver’s office and gave him a thankful smile.

“Hey, is it okay if I take a half hour to go talk with Sara? Your meetings are all on your google calendar and I’ve already put the notes on your phone.” Felicity asked him.

Oliver smiled gently, if not a bit sadly. “Go. If you don’t come back with a smile, don’t come back.”

“Thank you, Mr. Queen,” Felicity giggled playfully as Sara practically dragged her out of Oliver’s office and to the elevator.

*

“Oh my god, you were so emo!” Sara guffawed, practically shaking with laughter even an hour after Felicity gave her the picture. Oliver had texted them to meet up at the foundry instead of the office, and Sara had insisted on bringing the framed picture with her. When they came down the stairs holding hands, Sara nudging Felicity’s side, Oliver and Digg both gave them relieved smiles.

Digg raised his eyebrows at the blush on Felicity’s face. “You two have fun on your date?”

“Digg! Look at this picture of Felicity in high school!” Sara untangled their fingers and pulled the picture from her jacket to show Diggle who smiled like the man with years worth of teasing material.

“Felicity in high school?” Oliver asked, roaming over when his curiosity got the better of him.

Digg was basically vibrating with excitement, “Dear god, Felicity, you were a vampire!”

“Hey, that’s how dark my hair naturally is! I was out in the sun all of the time, I just look super pale by contrast!” Felicity protested.

“Did your hair naturally have bright pink racoon style streaks?” Oliver asked, a mask of innocence over his stupid face.

Digg smirked. “And were your lips naturally blue?”

Sara pointed at Felicity’s face, “Ollie, you wanna talk about racoon? Look at that eye makeup! Eyeliner so heavy, you didn’t need a bandit mask!”

“Felicity Smoak, were you a thief!?” Digg gasped, looking like this was the best day of his damn life.

“As the Arrow, I need to warn you that it is my sworn duty to put criminals in jail.”

“I’ll put you jail,” Felicity warned Oliver.

“She would totally steal that bike.”

“I got _permission_ from the _owner_!” Felicity rolled her eyes and pushed Sara halfheartedly.

Sara looped her arm around Felicity’s shoulders. “You just had to sneak it past his husband. I’m so proud of my little trespasser!”

Felicity’s cheeks turned bright red, but they also hurt from smiling so hard. She leaned against Sara’s arm and raised her eyebrows. “Are you done?”

“Mmmm...nope. You’re gonna have to shut me up.” Sara told her with mock seriousness. Felicity laughed and shook her head, pulling Sara closer to give her a quick kiss. “Alright, now I’m done. You guys really shouldn’t make fun of Felicity. Mockery is the lowest form of humor.”

“I thought that was sarcasm,” Digg noted as he passed the picture back to Sara, who carefully stored it away.

“It’s whatever’s convenient for them,” Oliver explained. “Now, should we get started or does anybody else have any embarrassing pictures from back in the day?”

Felicity gave Oliver a look. “Oh, I can totally pull up some pre-island Ollie with an axe murderer haircut.”

“Let’s get down to business, then.” Oliver spoke carefully.

*

“Laurel won’t drop the case. She’s headed to court right now.” Sara reported as she marched into the room, prompting Oliver to start moving towards the door. “Where are you going?”

“To the courthouse,” He answered shortly.

Sara turned up, frustration build. “Well hey!” She gestured at the table, “You forgot your baby arrows!” Felicity turned around in her chair as Digg settled on the med table to watch the two vigilantes, neither one sure of what was about to happen. They shared a surprised look before turning back to the show.

Oliver started walking back slowly, like he was approaching a corner animal, which--honestly--only pissed Sara off more. “Look, I get your whole ‘no killing’ spree, but if it comes down to saving Laurel or killing Helena--”

“Sara, those aren’t the only two choices,” Oliver shook his head. 

Sara let out a breath and had to look away from him for a second. “Well, you were happy enough to let Digg take the kill shot when it was Slade threatening _your_ family!”

“This is different,” Oliver argued. “I failed Helena. I created the Huntress.”

“Yeah, well, you created Slade, too.” Sara shot back before realizing what she’d said when Oliver’s eyebrows moved up a little in surprise and guilt. She swallowed and shook her head, pushing her hair out of her face and moving away from him so that she could _think_. 

“You’re right,” She heard his voice, defeated and guilty, and hated herself a little bit more for it. She was shaking her head when she turned around to correct him, but he continued. “You’re right. But when it comes to our families...the people we love--” Oliver looked behind Sara to Felicity who was suddenly on the receiving end of two guilt-ridden vigilante stares-- “neither one of us thinks clearly. Which is why you have to stay here.”

Sara shook her head and moved forward, the desperate need to protect her people clawing at the inside of her skull where it’d been going crazy since Felicity first explained Helena in such a bullshit casual tone. _She held a crossbow to my neck to make me hack the FBI. Now I can’t wear my panda flats without that memory, so thanks, Helena._ “Ollie. I can’t.”

“I’m not gonna let anything happen to Laurel.” Oliver reassured her. “I love her, too.”

And then he was just...gone.

Sara turned around and let out a slow breath before facing Felicity and Digg. “What do you guys think?” 

Felicity raised her eyebrows as she moved her hand from scratching her neck to giving Sara a good old fashion finger gun. “Oh, I think if the Huntress shows up, you should totally kick her ass.”

Digg looked at Felicity and back at Sara, nodding and shrugging his mouth.

*

“You don’t have to be alone tonight,” Felicity walked in on Sarah whispering softly with Laurel behind the counter after closing in Verdant. “Do you want me to stay with you?”

“I don’t- I don’t really want to go home, Sara.” Laurel shrugged, still shaking from having a fucking crossbow at her back and...yeah, Felicity could relate. Laurel looked up and caught Felicity lurking. “Besides, you have someone waiting for you.”

Sara turned and saw Felicity and smiled a little bit. “I have the best girlfriend in the world. She understands when I need to stay with my sister after she was held hostage by Oliver’s ex-girlfriend.”

“Hmmm...this she does. She also knows what it’s like to be on the receiving end of Helena’s threats,” Felicity told Laurel with a ‘what can you do’ kind of smile. “Her crazy eyes haunted my nightmares for months.”

Sara looked between the two of them and groaned a little, “If both of you keep saying shit like that, you’re gonna give me _ulcers_.”

Laurel rolled her eyes. “Don’t mind her, she’s just a little over protective.”

“Understandable. Look who her people are. We get in, like, all of the trouble.” Felicity nudged Laurel with her shoulder.

Laurel laughed--shaky, but genuine. “This is true.”

Felicity nodded at Sara. “That lump has been staying on my couch for the past month. If you want, you could join her? I know that after something like this, you just wanna go somewhere and curl up in a fluffy blanket and forget the world. I can supply said blanket, movies, and--if I make a quick run to the store--ice cream.”

“Moose tracks this time,” Sara leaned her head against Felicity’s shoulder. “Come on, Laurel. You’ve been saying that you wanna have dinner with us.”

“Ice cream for dinner?” Laurel raised her eyebrows, but her smile gave away her temptation.

Felicity scoffed. “Such a lawyer answer. Just come with us. Otherwise, Sara won’t sleep from anxiety and her ulcer.”

“I’m gonna name the ulcer Ursula.” Sara mused.

Felicity hummed. “What about Uma?”

“I think I’ll vote for Uma rather than Ursula.” Laurel answered, finally grabbing her coat to go with them.

“Good thing my ulcer isn’t gonna run for office, then!” Sara poked at Laurel’s side and stood to grab her own jacket. As they walked out, she let her arm loop around Felicity’s waist and her pace slow to match her company.

Felicity grinned, “Ooh! Running for office! There’s an idea!”

*

“Hey! You put some pictures out!” Sara cooed in delight once they all got to Felicity’s apartment, food ordered and groceries in hand. She gave Felicity that look that made Felicity’s heart melt, “Look at you, putting down roots.”

Felicity blushed a little bit and looked down as the Lance sisters looked through the pictures. “Well, this girl I’m seeing started taking a bunch of pictures every time we hang out, so I figured some of them might be nice to display.”

“Sounds like a loser. You should dump her for me.” Sara yelled over her shoulder when Felicity disappeared to put up her groceries.

Felicity’s laugh carried into the living room. “Done and done. I’ll send her a text.”

Laurel chuckled at the two of them before finding and picking up one particular picture of Sara and Felicity. It was a full body candid shot--quite possibly meaning that Sara’s sudden yen for photography had spread to another person in their friend group--of the two of them at QC, huddled together, in front of a window, Sara holding one of Felicity’s hands and playing with her fingers while Felicity looked down at Felicity like she hung the stars. The best part was the stark difference between then. Felicity’s feminine profession look next to Sara’s bisexual biker look was somehow one of the most visually appealing things she’d ever seen.

“Oliver took that one.” Sara hooked her chin over Laurel’s shoulder and smiled at the picture in her hands. “I was trying to convince Felicity to play hooky with me. She didn’t go for it. I don’t think that girl will ever meet someone that she’s willing to skip work for.”

“Look out for that,” Laurel joked.

“It’ll be my karma.” Sara chuckled and pointed out a picture of Felicity and Diggle in an outdoor cafe, Felicity laughing hysterically, her hair blowing in the wind and eyes sparkling, as Digg looked at the camera, smug amusement on his face. “Ollie took that one, too. After I got started and explained why, Ollie got really into taking pictures and e-mailing them to everyone.”

“Why you people don’t just get instagram is beyond me,” Laurel joked.

Sara hummed. “Some things are meant to stay between us. Doesn’t mean we don’t want to remember them.”

Laurel smiled gently. She could understand that. She could understand that enough to envy the system she could see Sara and Felicity had. She could understand it enough to look at Felicity’s framed pictures and yearn to be a part of that. She wanted to know who the large black man was, she wanted to know why Thea was laughing in any given picture, she wanted to help them capture moments.

“Which one is your favorite?” Laurel asked. Sara hummed and looked over the selection.

“This one, probably,” Sara pointed to a photo of Felicity, Oliver, Diggle, and herself all asleep in the floor of Felicity’s apartment, giant blankets draped over them. “That was our cuddlefest. We had to remind the boys that going off by yourself was the worst thing to do when you had a team. Then of course, Roy came in and found us all sleeping on each other in a big dog pile. Good memory. Bad back ache from that, though. What’s yours?”

Laurel surveyed her choices and pointed at a picture that was of Felicity and Sara, Felicity kissing Sara’s forehead and Sara beaming like she’s just won the lottery. “That one is the one that you look happiest in.”

Sara smiled gently, remembering the day of relaxation with Felicity, Digg, and Oliver. “We spent that day going out and relaxing together. That’s the day most of the outdoors pictures were taken. God, I didn’t realize how many we’d taken.”

“You guys talking favorites?” Felicity asked after she’d finished putting away the groceries. She settled her hand on the small of Sara’s back and leaned her head against Sara’s shoulder. “Mine’s the one where I’m kissing her forehead. It’s hard to get Sara to smile on camera, but surprise her with affection, and she’ll be beaming for hours.”

Laurel took that in and finally let her anxiety about Felicity melt away.

*

“Hey, you’re being quiet,” Sara came up from behind Felicity in the foundry and leaned against the back of her chair. Felicity looked up and smiled at her before nodding at one of her screens. “Facebook? I never took you for the social media type.”

“If you don’t think that I have a viral twitter called Vigilante Problems, you’re kidding yourself,” Felicity quipped. “My mom made me get the Facebook back when I first moved here. I got a friend request from James a few months ago, but we’d never talked until...well until three weeks ago.”

Sara turned and leaned against Felicity’s desk, smiling hopefully at her girlfriend. “How’s that going?”

“We’ve been keeping it light. James is gonna be guest lecturing at Starling City University next week and he wants to meet up. Actually talk.” Felicity blinked a few times, tears gathering on her lashes. “He promised me that doesn’t hate me.”

Sara melted a little bit. She rested her hand against the back of Felicity’s head and pulled her closer to kiss her forehead. “I’m proud of you for reaching out.”

“I’m scared that he’ll be disappointed in me,” Felicity admitted, leaning into Sara’s touch.

“Impossible.”

*

“So, what are we doing here?” Oliver asked Sara cautiously as they sat together in a hotel seating area. Sara had asked him for a favor, but during the ride here and now that they were sitting, she’d been especially tight lipped.

Sara rolled her eyes at Oliver’s impatience. “Felicity is meeting her old neighbor to reconcile. She didn’t want me to come with her, but I’m still worried. With everything with Helena and the man in the mask and everything, it feels like we’re all waiting for the next move Slade makes. Felicity is important to both of us and integral to our operation. I don’t want him to get opportunistic when he sees not only Felicity unguarded but Felicity unguarded with someone who means the world to her.”

“So we’re stalking your girlfriend because she stonewalled you?” Oliver asked, unimpressed.

Sara glared at him for a second before acquiescing, “Okay, yeah.”

Oliver smiled slightly. “All you had to do was say so.”

“You know, you’re being really mature about the whole ex-girlfriend coming back from the dead to steal your girl thing.” Sara teased.

Oliver shrugged. “You make her happy. Whatever feelings I may or may not have for Felicity, she’s my friend first, and the only thing I want for her future is for her to be happy and to know that she’s loved. If this thing with you and her was toxic, or if you were lying to her or just playing with her, I’d be pissed. Instead, I’ve watched you make her smile, help her with some heavy emotional things, and get pictures up in her apartment.”

“It was so fucking bleak before she met me,” Sara groused.

“It was very impersonal.” Oliver acknowledged. “She’s putting down roots I think this is the first time in the entire two years that I’ve known her that she’s not ready to pick up and bolt with a second’s notice.”

Sara hummed. “Speak of the devil. Coming in through the front entrance. Three o’clock. She’s early.”

Felicity breezed through the lobby easily, walking in like she owned the place. She did a quick scan of the open floor plan of the hotel before staring straight at Oliver and giving him an unimpressed look.

“She made me,” Oliver laughed a little and gave her a wave, resulting in her rolling her eyes before she moved to the receptionist’s desk. 

Sara groaned. “Why are you so bad at this?”

“Not trying,” Oliver shrugged. “How come she didn’t make you?”

“Trying,” Sara shot back. “I should’ve brought Digg.”

In the lobby, Felicity’s conversation with the receptionist was interrupted when an older man, about 68 if Sara had to guess, came over. He placed his hand on Felicity’s arm familiarly and greeted her as if he wasn’t sure who she was. At her answer, both of them beamed at each other, pulling together for a hug. 

“Looks like a happy reunion,” Oliver smiled, happy for friend. “Let’s go, Sara. Give them their privacy.”

Sara sighed and allowed herself to be dragged out of her chair and out the side door. She barely bothered to check her phone, but she smiled when she did.

_From: Smoakin’ Hot Bae ೖ(⑅σ̑ᴗσ̑)ೖ_

_Thanks for sending in reinforcements. I’ll text you when I’m done here._

_14:23_

*

Felicity ran out of the way when Roy was holding Digg against the table. The arrow Sara loosed went through the plastic protector on the lights, but it got everybody’s attention. Felicity could recall when Sara had the time to grab the bow and both arrows, but she was thankful for an assassin’s instincts.

“Next one goes into your chest.” Sara warned, voice even and calm as she leveled a deadly weapon at Roy. “Let him go.”

Roy raised his eyebrows, but his voice shook when he answered. “You would honestly kill me because I dare to criticize the almighty Oliver Queen?”

“No, I’d kill you because you’re hurting my friend and scaring my girlfriend.” Sara answered, never needing time to think when protecting her people was her goal. Felicity edged behind Sara as quietly as shook could as they stared at each other, a battle of wills.

Oliver’s voice rang out clear and harsh as she came down the basement stairs. “Let him go!”

*

It was a hard thing for Sara to admit that she underestimated Felicity, especially given how highly how she thought of the woman. But there was something about Felicity Smoak. Oliver gave them their mission, sure. Diggle kept them sane, sure. But Felicity was their leader. When the chips were falling, when the sky was split open, when no one knew what to do, Felicity’s tone was clear. She was their commander, their handler.

And in the midst of their debate, the yelling of three people who were run ragged, who were on the edge, who were biting at the bits and wanting for a fight--Felicity’s voice cut clean as a hot knife through butter.

“Go.”

A simple command, but it shut up Oliver Queen.

“Go get Thea. Stop Slade.” She continued, moving towards Oliver as she gave him his orders. “Do whatever it takes. End this once and for all.”

And Oliver moved on her word.

The same way Sara moved when Felicity gave her the orders to go after Helena.

The same way Digg moved when Felicity told him to stand down from his self-assigned duty to protect her. 

The same way Roy calmed when she told him to take a breath.

Sara had underestimated her. She’d mislabeled Felicity’s role in their team. It wasn’t an obvious thing, but it was there if you looked for it. Felicity kept it hidden under layers of obfuscation on subtle hinting.

This was Team Arrow.

Felicity at the head, doling out commands. Oliver, her loyal soldier executing them to the letter.

And here she thought that whatever was between Oliver and Felicity was some little crush.

*

“Okay, so QC’s applied sciences division in being used to mass produce the serum based off of a sample of Slade’s blood.” Felicity explained when Oliver asked for an update.

Oliver clenched his jaw and looked around the group. “Any ideas on how to deal with that?”

After a beat of deafening silence, Sara looked around the group to see everyone looking at Felicity. She frowned a bit and stepped in front of her. “Has anyone else noticed that during emergencies you all look at Felicity? Maybe think with your own brains for a second. Remind us that they work.”

Diggle chuckled and Felicity shrugged. “Thanks, babe, but the only plan my big, bad brain can come up with is blowing the place to hell.”

Sara grinned and she, Oliver and Digg exchanged a look. Oliver cleared his throat and tried to keep a straight face. “As good a plan as any.”

“Wait, what?”

*

“Bombing buildings, great fourth date,” Sara cooed, wrapping her arms around Felicity from behind as they got into her apartment. Felicity hummed and leaned into her before scrapping her heals and turning in Sara’s arms.

“Your yen for explosions feels like it should be a red flag,” Felicity teased, pressing feather light kisses to Sara’s lips and down her neck.

Sara grinned predatorily and pulled Felicity’s hair out of her ponytail to run her fingers through it. She kept one hand in her hair, guiding Felicity back to her lips, and let the other wrap around Felicity’s waist tightly. “International assassin--” a kiss-- “current vigilante--” a kiss-- “dead for six years--” a kiss-- “ex-girlfriend who tried to kill me--” a kiss-- “and the pyromania is what makes you stop to think?”

“You’re right,” Felicity grinned against Sara’s lips and pulled away to look up at her through her eyelashes. “Then there’s nothing stopping me from inviting you back into my room.”

Sara smiled, a little sadly, and pressed a chaste kiss to Felicity’s forehead. “You’re cute.”

Felicity sighed and looked away. “That’s what I hear.”

“And there’s nothing more than I want to do than make you forget your name,” Sara continued. Felicity stepped away from Sara, making the other blonde release her hair and waist.

“But?” Felicity asked.

“But I need to go visit my father. Laurel’s been questioning him pretty hard.” Sara answered. An honest reason, but that didn’t stop Felicity from feeling the pang of rejection. Because, sure, that was great for this time, but since Thea’s kidnapping, it felt like Sara didn’t want to go back to the way things were. She was hesitating and staying careful.

Felicity knew pre-breakup behavior when she saw it.

“Go. Stay safe. Let your father know we’re working on it. Tell Laurel I said hi. All of the other fun things,” Felicity shrugged halfheartedly and turned to go into her kitchen, but was stopped by Sara’s grip on her arm.

“Hey, I’m sorry, okay?” Sara looked between Felicity’s eyes. “I know I haven’t really been _with you_ with you lately.”

Felicity shook her head. “It’s fine, Sara. You’ve got a lot going on. Go, you don’t want to be late.”

Sara let out a little breath and leaned forward to kiss Felicity goodbye. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“See you tonight,” Felicity echoed hollowly.

*

“Hey,” Felicity smiled up at Laurel when she walked in, prompting Sara to pull down her shirt a bit faster. Sara turned around and offered Laurel a slight smile.

“What happened to you?” Laurel asked, looking at Sara like she’d break any second.

“Oh, I’m fine,” Sara waved off the concern. “Ollie and I just had a little motorcycle mishap. It was nothing. I already got my discharge papers.”

Laurel stepped forward. “But your back...those scars, where did you get them?”

“You okay?” Oliver asked, walking in at just the right time.

“I will be,” Sara relaxed a little at being able to dodge Laurel’s question. “You?”

“Yeah,” Oliver nodded at Sara and Felicity before turning to Laurel. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Laurel greeted shortly, attention back on Sara in a hot second. “So, tell me what happened.”

Sara shrugged and let Oliver jump in while she motioned for Felicity to come closer to her. Felicity’s mouth tensed but she did as Sara asked, leaning against her, but staying woefully careful with her touches. “Motorcycle accident. It was stupid.”

“We were making a left turn, this car ran a red light.” Sara filled in.

“Did you file a police report?” Laurel asked.

Oliver’s forced casual tone would’ve made Felicity snort in another situation. “We didn’t see the point. We’re both fine. That’s- that’s what counts, right?” He turned to Sara who hummed and nodded.

Laurel looked between the two of them and nodded to appease them. “Right. I should really go. I have a deposition in an hour.”

“Okay,” Sara breathed out. “Thanks for, uh, checking up on me.”

“Always,” Laurel promised. 

Oliver looked between Felicity and Sara. “You ready to go?”

“Yeah,” Sara nodded and wrapped her arm around Felicity’s shoulders. “You ready?”

“Yeah.” Felicity practically whispered.

*

“How about some dim sum after fisticuffs?” Felicity asked Sara over Roy’s prone body, seeing the tortured expression on her face. “No? Okay...dumplings for one tonight then.” She nodded to herself and walked back to grab her purse and coat. Sara had been distant lately, so Felicity had come to understand that babbling during her long silences would come to achieve absolutely nothing.

She didn’t expect Sara’s next words. “I would have killed him.” Sara looked up at Felicity, who turned back to face her. “I was ready to. He’d be dead right now if Ollie didn’t stop me.”

“But he’s not,” Felicity pointed out, the two of them stepping towards each other. “We’re all...mostly okay and that’s all the matters, right?”

“No,” Sara spoke softly and shook her head, arms crossed over her chest defensively. “I _wanted_ to kill Roy. Because that’s what I do. That’s who I am. Look, I spent six years in the darkness, and I looked into the eyes of the devil and I gave him my soul.”

Felicity took a hesitant step forwards and looked at Sara hopefully. “We can help you get it back.”

“No, you deserve someone better.” Sara looked Felicity in the eyes, tears making her blue eyes shine. “Someone who can help you harness that light inside of you. But I’m not that person. And I never will be.”

“Sara--”

“Find someone that you’d play hooky with. Find someone who could never drag you down to their level. Someone who makes you want to do better, be better. Someone who makes you laugh. Be happy and live the life that I can’t.” Sara continued, ignoring Felicity whispered plea.

“Don’t--”

“I’m sorry,” She could feel one stray tear fall down her cheek as she stared at Felicity’s defeated face. They both knew that this was coming. No need to make this any harder than it needed to be. She turned and began to walk away, but she didn’t want those to be the last words she spoke to that sweet ray of sunshine. “I just care about you too much to be with you.”

Felicity didn’t look at Sara, just stared down at her phone and refused to acknowledge the droplets of tears gathering of her hands and screen. 

It could’ve been five minutes later or five hours later, but Felicity had no idea how much time had passed before Oliver’s hand on her shoulder startled her out of her pity party.

“Let me drive you home,” He whispered, solemn understanding on his face.

“No,” Felicity shook her head and sniffed, blinking away tears like she had her entire life. “I think I want to be alone right now.”

Oliver gave her a flat look before pulling her into a comforting hug. He was kind enough to ignore the way she immediately broke down, holding onto his shirt for dear life and trusting him to hold her shattered pieces together.

But then reality set in and she gently pushed him away. “Your family needs you, Oliver.”

“Felicity--” He started.

“Go,” She ordered without looking at him. “I have work to do.”

Always back to work.

**Author's Note:**

> Lemme know what you guys think, if you want to see more of this universe. I'm thinking of writing some scenes out of Pretty People from Dick's POV and maybe introducing Dick and Sara. That would fun. Too sassy to handle.
> 
> Go follow me on social media:
> 
> [see wally_birb for pretty pictures](http://www.instagram.com/wally_birb/)
> 
> [see alpha-whale for snark in spades](http://www.alpha-whale.tumblr.com)


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